I've been using http://sto.perfectworld.com to go to the main page. But if I give it two seconds, it redirects to some vlmac.com site with about a 100 character string at the end of it, then goes to the main PWE registration page. If I click on "click here to continue", it sends me to the main PWI page.

I'm suspecting I've got at least one issue with this computer, since I'm also getting popup ads in the bottom right corner of random pages, and if I X them out, it blacks out most of the bottom half of the page, and I have to refresh it..

This sounds like you have a bad 'Ad-ware' trojan that is trying to maliciously insert ads, and directs your web-viewing via a malware web proxy....

Take your system to a professional Virus/Trojan removing service. Or you can take more drastic measures yourself (such as a disk format and system re-install)